Sharks hold annual alumni game

Some alumni, such as former Sharks head coach Ashley Rafuse, played on the very first Sharks team when the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League began 10 years ago.

Rafuse stepped away from coaching at the end of the last season because she had a baby, a girl that is now just five weeks old.

But that didn’t stop her from getting out on the ice on Tuesday, alongside and against some of her former players and teammates.

“I was feeling the burn out there,” Rafuse joked. “We’ve been doing [this] ever since I started coaching. I wanted to get it going because it’s fun for us to come back and play these girls and get together. We always have fun, every year.”

Current head coach Gary Berggren said it’s helpful when former players come back because current Sharks players can see where AAA Sharks hockey can take them.

There hasn’t been a season where a Sharks player hasn’t gone on to play either U-Sports hockey or college.

“You have a whole mix of girls who come back and play. It’s great,” Berggren said. “A lot of them have played college hockey and [U-Sports], but even the ones that haven’t, it’s still good to hear their story and what they did after Sharks hockey.”

Jetta Derenoski is one of those former Sharks players who participated in the alumni game and has gone on to play U-Sports hockey.

She played four seasons in the Battlefords, scoring 32 goals in 91 career games from 2011 to 2015.

Now she is in her first season as a member of the Nipissing Lakers in North Bay, Ont., a university program that is just four years old, yet the team is currently in second place in a 13-team Ontario conference with a 10-1-1 record.

“It was just great to be back here and see all the girls,” Derenoski said. “We’re all here to just have a good time.”

Derenoski, who is studying nursing, has kept in touch with former teammates Keara Amson and Maya Tupper, and is also friends with Jordan Kulbida and Dakota Peterson, even though the latter two weren’t technically her teammates.

Because of that, she has been able to give advice as the season has gone on.

“They just kind of ask for information like what to do, so I’ve been helping them a little bit and it’s great to have them ask me – it makes me feel good,” Derenoski said. “I know they’re still building, they’re a young team, but they’re doing really well and if they all stick together then it’s going to continue to [go well].

“They have really good coaches here so I think they just need to stay together since they’re so young. If they keep working, they’re going to go places.”

Rafuse also offered some advice after the game, although not for the current Sharks team.

“To anybody that is an alumni, and isn’t sure about it, come out. You won’t regret it,” Rafuse said. “Everybody that has ever come out has had a blast and we have nothing but good things from all the girls that come.

“They all leave saying ‘Oh I had so much fun. I want to come back next year.’ “

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Sharks hold annual alumni game

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